The shapeless acouasms of primordial mellotrons harkening the age of the machine, that’s what the Moody Blues were about way back when they first hit the planet like Gort-oids plotting the theft of Earth’s power. Having the prevoyance to recognize the gogability of the up and coming Seventies, these Blues played the blues of drug moan and an inherent generational urge to attain encephalic--yet spiritual, just to make it valid--rigor mortis.
Taking the nubilous chaos of the time and molding it into a less effervescent, more ephectic sensibility, the Moody Blues and their mighty mellotron laid the foundations for the likes of ELP, Tang Dream and Kraftwerk, as well as a host of other pretenders to the electron. Their excursions into a sapid reality left many people smiling, contented, and as blank as any in the current generation.
This double album is vintage material culled from the less than overflowing vaults of London Records. Recorded at a time when they were at their most effective--1969--the four sides run the gamut between eye-squinting sloppiness to eye-raising moments of nostalgic quality, and even a moment or two of real drama.
“Nights In White Satin” and “Legend Of A Mind” are as Seconal clean as they’ve ever been, “Ride My See-Saw” is a mite less rockin’ than the original, and “Tuesday Afternoon” is as boring as Tuesday afternoon really is. The rest of the “Live” material maintains a level that’ll please any Moody Blues aficionado.
Drifting back into the days when the Moody Blues were more pop oriented than Metropolis, side four is comprised of five unreleased studio takes. Most of these are a shade more embossed than “Go Now” and “Can’t Nobody Love You” from the very first Moodies album. “King and Queen” is likeable and so is “Long Summer Days,” which could’ve been a respectable hit on the radio. The only draggy song on this side is “What Am I Doing Here?” which insists on containing all sorts of covert drug references.
These siffleurs of noctambulation aren’t as repulsive as so many make ’em out to be (at least not back in ’69 they weren’t), and Caught Live + 5 should be gotten as an artifact, if for no other reason.
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